Great ! Thanks, Ed ! If I may, as you are speaking of the Old Empires, what was your Chessenta about ? My Chessenta was a regional name for a land of independent (and rival) city-states (their names didn't change, so you can see them all on the map) rather akin to Italy back at the time of the condottieri. Vineyards, verdant farms and ranches, horsebreeding, cheeses…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 25, 2019

@TheEdVerse is there such a thing as a comic book in the realms, perhaps horizontally-printed ones like histoire de m. vieux bois? pic.twitter.com/L29ZJXyOFk

— Belial Lyka (@TimeBust) May 12, 2019

Yes. Comics in the Realms: chapbooks, printed once a tenday: 1 large sheet (of poor quality "unbleached newsprint with splinters in it" paper) folded in half into an oversized birthday card: front cover, story text inside left, b&w comic panels inside right & back.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 12, 2019

Hey Ed! I think I may be misremembering, but was there an abandoned dwarven colony or stronghold beneath the sea, with a tunnel leading to the mainland? Perhaps under the Sea of Swords? Yes, there are several. Some are mining complexes that ventured out deep under the sea. @StevenESchend is your leading loremaster for such, though one shouldn't miss consulting @gkrashos and @EricLoganBoyd on such matters, either!#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 23, 2019

@TheEdVerse Hey my good Sage, a question: As per 5e rules for buying an item as a downtime activity, you actually have to roll to see what items appear(better rolls, rarer items) and if a player seeks a specific one they must roll particularly high depending on rarity.+

— Sanderson Tavares (@Sands_Tavares) April 21, 2019

+There is also a bonus to represent how high/low magic the setting is, from -10 if it’s super low magic to +10 if it’s super high magic. What would be a reasonable bonus(if any) to add for Waterdeep in this step? I’d imagine even post-spellplague we are still+ +dealing with magic items reasonably often in Waterdeep. And what kind of sellers might bring the items? Ships? From where? Faires? Auction Houses? Would love to hear you discuss some of the workings of the magic item economy when possible. Thanks in advance!

— Sanderson Tavares (@Sands_Tavares) April 21, 2019

1)
Any large crossroads trading city in the Realms that attracts a lot of money will be trending towards “super high magic.” As the Realms heads into the 1500s DR, I’d put Waterdeep at a +7 bonus in harsh winter height, up to +9 at end of summer when some folk… 2)
…want to leave and make one last "big sale" to tide them through the winter lean trading times. In the Deep as elsewhere, magic items are held by two sorts of folk: those who have the Art (e.g. wizards) and want to use them/experiment with them/make use of…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 21, 2019

3)
…them in manufacturing processes [and this sort of folk rarely want to part with them, except in trade for a “better” magic item] and investors. (In the same way that some real-world folks sit on paintings they keep in storage instead of looking at, and own… 4)
…houses they don't live in, to eventually resell or auction them for far more than they paid.) It's this second sort of folk that we usually neglect in published game lore, but who are far more "the source" interested adventurers can access. In the Deep, they…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 21, 2019

5)
…are often nobles (who now need funds), guilds (who are heavily into the investment game, meaning they may acquire magic items having little or nothing to do with what the guild “does” daily), rising wealthy merchants (including the “wannabe nobles” who… 6)
…spend splashily), and less often, lower-income families finally parting with a family heirloom (often something dusty, passed down from an adventuring ancestor). Guilds and nobles only resort to "outside" auctions for anonymity; the other sorts usually do so…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 21, 2019

7)
…security fears. (If nobles or guilds don’t care about anonymity, they’ll hold the auctions themselves so as to save on the auctioneer’s take). Auction or private sale alike, the custom is to hire a Watchful Order member (the Order has a set fee for this, a… 8)
…a very reasonable 50 gp) to provide security for the auction/sale and transfer of item (and often involves both spies and "thickneck muscle" bodyguards, a.k.a. "bullyblades" and apprentice wizards, as well as 'the' Order mage). Private sales are usually…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 21, 2019

9)
…secretive, for security reasons.
And remember: the rules are guidelines/suggestions. When I DM, magic items are never determined by dice rolls; I place what I think best fits the campaign (often 'custom' items), and the hunt and the negotiations are roleplayed.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 21, 2019

Thank you very much! As always your words are a font of inspiration and admiration for me and other DMs and worldbuilders. Happy to be of help! We're all wandering our favourite imaginary settings, and long may it gives joy to do so!

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 22, 2019

Hi, @TheEdVerse, long time no see. How you been? I have a rather weird question for you.

In my country, during this month people “hunts” and eat ants (we call them “hormigas culonas”). They only live in my hometown (they cannot thrive in another climate). There’s a hot climate+ …in my hometown. My question is: is there an equivalent custom in the Realms? In which region those kind of ants (or a Realmsian equivalent) live and are eaten.

Hope you can answer this, and thanks for sharing your Realmslore with us!

— Jon Gomez (@ZeromaruX) April 27, 2019

Hi! In the Tashalar, and Chult, there are "honey ants" whose abdomens swell with sweet nectar-like fluid from the plant parts they eat, that are plucked and eaten by local humans and wild dwarves. And in Semphar, large quantities of ants are harvested, doused in..#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 28, 2019

2)
…herbed oils, and fried (the oil makes them stick together in a mass that can be pushed against the pan with a wooden paddle-spoon, into a cake, and then eaten. Both of these customs happen in all exccept the coldest winter months (ants always available).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 28, 2019

@TheEdVerse Hey Ed. I'm trying to make a Human Forge Cleric but I can't seem to find many gods typically worshiped by Humans that would work for that. Would it be "weird" for a human to worship him? Maybe a human raised by dwarves?

— square X (@pizzaxyz) May 7, 2019

1)
No, many individuals in the Realms worship deities primarily venerated by other races. It’s unusual, but NOT considered weird, as all sentient beings “believe in” all deities. As humans are curious, some humans might want to ask the PC why he worships that deity…#Realmslore 2)
…"before all others." Remember, the Realms is pantheistic, not mono-theistic: only clerics, paladins, and a few "fanatics" worship only one god. Most folks worship all the gods of their race, but about a third of that "most" devote most of their worship to a handful of gods.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 7, 2019

@TheEdVerse
Hello Ed! Your fan from Latvia here.
I have a few questions about Forgotten Realms for my own story. I took a lot of inspiration from your books and your biography. Sorry for poor grammar.
I want my story to be maximally close to the canon of FR setting

— Hiteru (@Geonatrik) April 20, 2019

but in the 5th edition they are just elementals who want to bring inferno to the word.
Which of them are the canonical one? Or do they both exist in the canon? And where do the phoenixes come from? Elysium? Plane of Fire?

2) My story takes place in the 1235 Baldurs Gate and thus I found a few problematic points that I can’t figure out. I would be very happy if you can help me to clear them out.
1) Phoenix. There is two different descriptions in 3rd and 5th edition. The first one says they have some planewalk abilities and telepathy,

— Hiteru (@Geonatrik) April 20, 2019

the Year of the Black Horde. I would be grateful to receive some specifications about the origin, count and the goal of this horde.
3) The main question of mine is about differences in 3rd and 5th edition canons. Does 5th edition adds to history of Forgotten Realms or does it rewrites it?

— Hiteru (@Geonatrik) April 20, 2019

1)
Okay, here we go:
#1/Both sorts of phoenixes exist in canon, but the non-elemental sort are no longer seen in the Realms, for unknown-to-folk-of-Toril reasons. The elementals come, yes, from the Plane of Fire. 2)
#2/There’s an accurate summary of what history records about the huge orc horde known as the Black Horde here, online: https://t.co/FdIV6Ijo2X
Like most orc hordes, this one arose due to overpopulation (orcs…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 20, 2019

4)
3)
…breed fast) in the mountain caverns of the Sword Coast North; when food grows scarce, the young are sent out to sweep south and raid or conquer, forming a horde and usually “getting as far as they can” before being killed off. #3/According to the original Realms agreement, updates were supposed to add to the history and not rewrite it, but how it’s turned out to work in the real world is that canon is whatever the most recently published source states, so…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 20, 2019

5)
…5th edition does rewrite earlier canon. Which has led to a lot of really fun lorework, notably by Eric L. Boyd and George Krashos, explaining away apparent inconsistencies with additional hitherto-hidden lore.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 20, 2019